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ampeg micro vr head ohms question

bassman5000

bassman5000

Guest
Mar 20, 2015
4
0
Oregon
#1
Hi, I am thinking of buying an Ampeg micro vr head and in the specs it says 4 ohm minimum. Without getting too technical can anyone tell me if I can use my trace elliot 4x10 cab which is rated at 8 ohms with this head without damaging either cab or amp?
 
#3
thanx for the input. So getting just a little bit more technical about it, when it says on the back panel of the amp "4 ohm minimum" does that mean 4 ohms and up as in 8 ohms would be higher? I know probably a really dumb question but Ive been lead the wrong way on ohms issues before and quite frankly when it comes to ohms/speaker combinations I tend to get a little confused. Just trying to wrap my head around the whole thing. Thanx for any and all input
 
#5
High Camp said:
You can use the Micro VR with either a 4 ohm or an 8 ohm load.
(So one 4 ohm cab, or one 8 ohm cab, or two 8 ohm cabs)
With two 8 ohm cabs you will get a 4 ohm load effectively.
Click to expand...

yup, what High camp said .......and to the OP ....ohms don't add up mathematically like you might think.....so 8+8=4 in the world of Ohms....8+4=2.7 and therefore below the min. 4 ohms...
...any amp is happy to pump out watts "full blast" so to speak, as fast as it can, but is designed to work with a resistance of 4 ohms to control the flow of energy (that is your speaker load doing the resisting)...if it is allowed to pump out its watts through a lower resistance, it will do so vigorously and over heat and burn out or blow its own fuse, but the overheating can cause damage to various parts/tubes etc.....at least that is the way I understand it, thanks to the good people on TB
 
#7
thanks for the info guys. that helps quite a bit edencab. I have been lugging around my svt full stack which sounds ....well, like GOD! however: I really need a smaller rig for some gigs but really dont want to sacrifice that svt tone. I am running a sansamp di which works for foh but for stage I dont feel I should have to suffer through listening to my bass through some inferior device! I think the micro vr head will suffice. Any thoughts or advice/ reviews of the ampeg micro vr?Iwould love to hear some if any of you have some experience playing through one. Thanks again for the ohms lesson!
 
#8
I really love the Micro VR because it looks so cool and sounds like Ampeg, but if it were me and my money, I'd do the PF350 instead. Same price and sound but with 150 extra watts, which isn't a whole lot of extra volume but you'll appreciate the extra headroom.
 
#9
I've been using the Ampeg Micro-VR for years now. I got it during the first year they were released and it's still going fine with no problems.
There are 2 speaker outputs at the back. One for 4 ohm and one for 8 ohm. Just use the correct output for your cab.

The head has been plenty loud for all my needs. The loudest I've ever needed to push it is volume around 12-1 o'clock but it's fine.
I've also heard good things about the PF350 or PF500 head but my Micro-VR hasn't given me any problems through years of gigging/recording.
 
#10
ShowKing said:
I've been using the Ampeg Micro-VR for years now. I got it during the first year they were released and it's still going fine with no problems.
There are 2 speaker outputs at the back. One for 4 ohm and one for 8 ohm. Just use the correct output for your cab..
Click to expand...
Very cool you're still digging on yours, but slight correction...the jacks are the same and you can connect one or two 8 ohm cabs or one 4 ohm cab to either of the jacks and you're fine.
 

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